Smashwords Interview

I thought I would share my interview for Smashwords, the company that will be distributing my ebook internationally.

The Interview:

What do your fans mean to you?
Well, I’m not sure I have ‘fans’. However, we all put a lot of time and effort into the things we believe in, and for many of us, seeing those things come to fruition provides us a personal sense of gratification. However, for me, it is magnified when I know that what I’ve produced generates the same feeling for someone else.
Life is about sharing. More importantly, it is about the positive ripples we leave from our lives. Knowing that what I do makes someone else feel good, that in some tiny way I create a ripple, makes life truly joyous. So, in a long-winded way, I’m saying that ‘fans’ mean everything.
I had a blues band. We played gigs on a regular basis. However, before that, I was a hermit both with my music and my writing. After being coerced into performing publicly, the world changed. I watched and felt others feel what I was feeling. It still sends tingles up my spine just thinking about it, and it changed me forever.
I’m still a bit of a hermit. And yet, the experience opened my eyes to the fact that until we put it ‘out there’, until we share our souls with those we respect and value, we contribute fewer positive ripples from our lives. Fans give me far more than I ever give them, but I strive to return the favor.

What are you working on next?
Mannethorn’s Key is the first in a trilogy, so I’m already actively working on Book Two. I also have a new project that I am quite excited about, an urban fantasy entitled Gaia’s Assassin. It’s dark, a bit dystopian, but I feel it’s quite unique from the work we’re seeing in those genres.

Why Epic Fantasy?
There’s a lot of mutants, vampires, zombies and dystopian futures out there, according the number of scribes chronicling such tales. Don’t get me wrong. Some of the best books produced this decade are in those sub-genres. I have read some brilliant works, and many are far beyond my writing and imaginative abilities. However, I believe there is still a place, and a desire from many readers, for the epic.
Epic fantasy provides me the palette to create a unique world that I can escape to and that doesn’t limit the scope. As George R.R.Martin proved, it can be terribly dark, vulgar, violent and sexual while still permitting the reader a place to ‘go’. Science fiction does the very same thing for me. I’m just not that smart. To write good sci-fi these days requires, again in my view, a good grasp of physics and science. In fact, many of the best writers in the genre are brilliant scientists.
For me, no other genre provides me more firepower for my imagination or lets me fully immerse myself while writing.Who are your favorite authors?
I am a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to the genre (on that note, I read mostly the styles I write). There is something to be said for the epic fantasy, and if you’re going to read them, many of which are tomes, you might as well focus on the really good ones! J.R.R. Tolkien, David Eddings, Terry Goodkind, Raymond Feist, Piers Anthony, Robert Jordon, Robin Hobb, David Farland and Terry Brooks are my go-to authors, but I do like the dark twist and genre-benders that have disrupted the scene, like George R.R. Martin and Peter Brett.When you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?
I live in a remote part of the Rocky Mountains. I chop a lot of wood.
The rest of my waking day is spent hiking the alpine with the Love Of My Life (LOMYL for short), crooning the blues and getting reacquainted with my guitars, who are quite upset at me for leaving them in cases while I spend most of my time fondling the laptop.

Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?

The Magic Skates. I was six.

What is your writing process?

I’m a muller. I mull everything. The concept of Mannethorn’s Key and the trilogy was over a decade in the making. I have learned to let go a little and now my writing flows far more fluidly than in my past. One has to find their groove. I think I finally discovered mine.
I’m not one for outlines. I visualize a concept, see the story-line, and then let it come out. I hear often of sculptors who look at a piece of wood or stone – and just start. They feel that they are simply the catalyst to free whatever has been encased within, just waiting for an artist to come along and release it.
If new-age physics has anything to say about it, whatever you can dream up is likely part of the infinite probabilities that represent our universe. If I let go, if I let my ‘fingers do the walking’, it doesn’t take long before the story takes over and I’m just the hapless scribe trying to get it all down.

Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?

It might not have been the first, but Roald Dahl’s books totally hooked me. Dad used to read Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh to us, but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and The Giant Peach really got me into the whole ‘words are cool’ thing.

How do you approach cover design?

Leave it to experts, but ensure it represents your book’s core. A book cover is a promise. Don’t break it.

What is your e-reading device of choice?

Books.
I haven’t yet made the full transition away from an epic fantasy tome that I can do bicep curls with when I need to take a bathroom break. Still, Kobo is my new platform and toy, and I’m currently reading three ebooks at the same time. I also have Kindle and Ibooks on my Mac.
Give me time. I might even throw out the VCR.

Describe your desk.

It moves.

Happy Trails!

Simon Lindley is a former publisher and Luddite of old-world printing, and has been banging out ideas since the days of correction tape and typewriters (hey, it wasn’t that long ago). He lives in the Canadian Rockies with his wife and two dogs, and spends most of his time daydreaming, playing music, chopping wood, hiking in the alpine and hammering on the keyboard, usually with a little too much fervor. He is currently working on Book Two of the Key of Life Trilogy and a new Urban Fantasy Series entitled, Gaia’s Assassin.
You can follow Simon on Twitter: @Simon_Lindley, or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSimonLindley

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2 Comments

We have known Simon for over 10 years now, living next to him on a a float home in Maple Bay BC Canada, jogging with him on the only country road around that was paved, sharing good times and a occassional dinner! When we moved back to the states part of me was left behind in Canada, with all the friends we made, the lifestyle, the cleanliness and the caring for each other!, something you don’t find here in the US unless you live in rural America! Thank you Simon and to all British Columbia for your welcome and hospiltality while we were there! AND MOST OF ALL THANKS SIMON FOR YOU BEING YOU!!